Ch 35//Homecoming

                                    

                                          
It had been about a week since Charlie and Alex had kissed, and they were still going head strong with their relationship. They kept it a secret out of fear of judgement though. In school they would do things like hold hands under the desk in lab class, kiss when no one was looking, and sit as close as possible at lunch without looking suspicious. Katie would sit with them as always but she was always so distracted with her own talking that she didn't notice. 
Charlie's heart would flutter every time he was close to Alex. He really loved this boy. He felt silly for not realizing it sooner. It all made sense though. He knew now why his ears would heat up when they hugged, why he thought about him so much, and why there were times where he wished he was laying down beside him in bed on lonely nights. 
Alex was everything to him. Charlie couldn't ask for anything more. 
"Are you guys going?" Katie said. 
The sounds of a noisy cafeteria and Katie's chatter came back to Charlie. 
He blinked. "Hm?" He said tilting his head.
"To Homecoming?" She replied. 
Charlie blinked again. Social gatherings were defitantly not his cup of tea. On his bad days, he can barely handle being in the cafeteria. And a school dance would be much louder than slamming of lucnch tray's, and would feel more crowded than the lines for "Extra Chilli" Day's. 
Although, he didn't wanna say no without talking about it with Alex. Maybe he would want to go. 
He looked over to Alex for a possible answer. He looked for signs of excitement or hope but found none. He didn't look opposed to the idea either though. 
"We'll think about it" Alex said glancing over at Charlie. He blushes, realising what he had said might have been given them away. "I mean-" his whole body tensed up, "Seperatly! Each of us will think about it seperatly!" He stuttered. Katie just looked at him with a confused expression. 
"Ooookay?" She said with a raised eyebrow. "Really think about how much fun it could be though please" She begged. "The music, the dancing...the food!" She beamed. "By the way...If you are going to the dance, any thoughts on who you might bring?" She grinned.
Alex chuckled. "If I did go, I think I have someone In mind" He said looking down at his tray smiling. 
The bell rang, causing kids to scatter. "Crud" Alex said. He shoved his bag of chips in his pocket and took care of his tray with Charlie. It took them two minutes to make through the crowd and put their trays up. Alex held onto the rest of his sandwich to eat on the way. Katie, not wanting to ruin her perfect attendance, went ahead and left. This left Charlie and Alex to walk on their own down the hall to their study hall in the library.
Once they got there, they went to their usual spot in the far back with the bean bag chairs. Technically they were supposed to be at a desk looking busy, but if they were quiet enough the librarian usually didn't even notice when there were 25 other kids there. 
"So uh.." Alex said laying back in his bean bag chair. His fingers traced along the books on the shelf next to him. "You wanna go to that dance?" 
There was a long pause. When Alex didn't hear Charlie scribbling down an answer in his notebook, he lifted his head up. He saw Charlie looking down at his notebook, biting his lip. His pencil was touching the paper but he was hesitant to make an answer. 
He dreaded the idea of going. But Alex seemed to want to, he did ask anyway. But what if something happened? What if it all became too much for him and he ruined the night for him?...Would Alex want to slow dance with him?...As much as he liked the idea of Alex embracing him like that, what if people stared? What if they laughed? What if they found it disgusting and bullied them for the rest of their school years? 
Did Alex not care what others thought? What if he was the one being the coward, and Alex was just hiding their relationship for him? 
"Hey" Alex said putting his hand over Charlie's. "We don't have to go if you don't want to" He said. 
Charlie looked into Alex's eyes. 
Alex did so much for him...the least he could do was do this for him.